The invention relates to an installation arrangement for a drive unit which is intended for a vehicle and has an internal combustion engine and a transmission.
EP 0411319 A2, which represents the prior art in this field, discloses a motor vehicle having an inline internal combustion engine, having a crankshaft mounted in a housing of the internal combustion engine and having a parallel auxiliary shaft which is driven by this crankshaft and is used to transmit power to the transmission. The arrangement is in this case designed such that the internal combustion engine, which is in the form of a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine, is installed in the nose of the vehicle transversely between the driven front wheels and with one cylinder row inclined to the rear and with the auxiliary shaft, located in front of the internal combustion engine, being driven via a gear train arranged at the end of the internal combustion engine. This auxiliary shaft transmits the power directly from the internal combustion engine to a transmission, with a transmission output drive shaft that is located behind the internal combustion engine in the direction of travel driving the input drive shaft associated with the front wheels via a branch.
DE 39 206 38 C2 discloses a drive system for a motor vehicle having an inline internal combustion engine fitted in the longitudinal direction, in which a longitudinally fitted transmission is arranged behind the internal combustion engine in the direction of travel, is driven directly by the crankshaft, and whose output drive shaft, which runs at the side alongside the internal combustion engine, drives a branch, which is in the form of a differential, in a housing formed separately on an oil sump. An intermediate shaft which passes through the internal combustion engine oil sump runs between this differential and the vehicle wheel located on the other side of the internal combustion engine.
In order to reduce the installed height of this drive system, the cylinder row is fitted so that it is inclined to the right when seen in the direction of travel, so that the differential, when seen from above, is arranged lying underneath the cylinder row.
Finally, for an internal combustion engine having a V-shaped cylinder arrangement that is symmetrical with respect to a vertical plane and having a longitudinal crankshaft, it is known from EP 0514943 B1 for an arrangement which shortens the installation space of the drive unit comprising the internal combustion engine and the transmission, for the differential (which is driven by the output drive shaft of the transmission which is routed at the side alongside the internal combustion engine) to be arranged lying well forward in the direction of travel, at the side alongside the internal combustion engine.